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Topic: Light hives (Read 676 times)

I'm in the process of getting some hives ready to move to a different yard and found three of five are very light. Golden rod and aster are still blooming and the alfalfa where they will be going has blooms. Should I feed them like crazy? The other two hives are close to 120 lbs each very strong hives. All the hives do have good numbers as far as bees are concerned.

Put feed on if they need it they will take it . If there's enough still coming in they usually wont

I have read this, and heard it many times from others.. I can only deduce that my bees are gluttons. It does not matter what time of year it is or what is currently flowing. If I put syrup out, they take it, and they pack EVERY available cell to the brim with it. The results are a ticked off queen that wants to swarm, or NO brood because she has no place to lay. Having said that... Its been so dry here that most of my hives are light. They have plenty of pollen, but not much honey/nectar, so the syrup is flowing!!

If my hive is now in one deep and one super, they are Italians, and I am in Massachusetts, what should I aim for as a hive weight? It is currently about 92 lbs. I don't want to overload them such that they have no open comb space to crawl into for the winter cluster.